Psychosocial aspects of nuclear accidents : The role of the World Health Organisation

ABSTRACT

Since the Chernobyl nuclear reactor incident in the USSR in 1986, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has devoted a large part of its activities and research towards improving both national and transnational capabilities for dealing with radiation emergencies. This presentation concentrates on the psychosocial aspects of radiation accidents and the measures which should be taken to combat them. Although public information was sparse during the Chernobyl disaster, afterwards there was a flood of conflic information and rumours from a variety of organisations and governments resulting in a "overload" on the public and creating fear and mistrust of the authorities. The autor argues that as the leading world organisation on health matters, WHO should be seen as the natural co-ordinator, authority and information-provider in "transnational" incidents such as this to avoid this public confusion and unnecessary ill-effects (AU)